Grass-twine machine.



No. 892,059. PATENTBD JUNE 30, 1908.

T. W. JERREMSL GRASS TWINE MACHINE.

Arrmouron IILEDDOT. 11, 1905.

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No. 892,059. PATENTED JUNE 30, 1908.

T. W. JERREMS. GRASS TWINE MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 0OT.11, 1905.

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N0. 892,059. PATENTED JUNE 30, 1908.

T. W. JERREMS.

GRASS TWINE MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 11, 1905. 4 sums-sum a.

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PATENTED JUNE 30, 1908 T. W J-ERREMSf GRASS TWINE MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED 00T.11, 1905.

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THOMAS W. JERREMS, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

GRASS-TWINE MACHINE Application filed October 11, 1905.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 30, 1908.

Serial No. 282,292.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS W. J ERREMS, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grass-'lwine Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to machines for making grass twine, and has for its object to im prove the same in the several particulars hereinafter noted.

The invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

Certain features of construction disclosed in the drawings of the present application are disclosed and claimed in my co-pending application S. N. 229,548, filed October 22d, 1904, entitled Grass twine machine while certain other features disclosed in said drawings are disclosed and claimed in my Letters Patent of the United States No. $24,792, is-

sued July 3rd, 1906, entitled Grass twine,

machine In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate my present invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to these drawings, Figure l is a plan view, showing the complete machine. Fig. 2 is a view chiefly in front elevation, but with some parts sectioned approximately on the line r of Fig. 1, and with some parts remover Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail of the reeling mechanism, showing the same partly in plan and partly in horizontal section. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detail in horizontal section, taken on the line a at ol Fig. 2, through one of the several pairs of crimping rollers. Fig. 6 is a detail in section on the line .r I. of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a horizontal section taken on the line .1' r of Fig. 2, looking upward. Fig. 8 is a horizontal section taken centrally through one of the primary twisters, some arts being broken away. Fig. 9 is an enargedsection taken on the line :r a:" of F 8; and Fig. 10 is a detail view, illustrating the construction of the pair of drawing wheels used in the so-called secondary twister.

As shown, the frame work 1 of the machine is constructed of wood and is in the form of cooperating blades on the other side.

an elongated rectangular skeleton, having at its forward end a short bed plate 2. Rigidly secured at each side ol the bed plate 2, is a pair of laterally spaced bearing pedestals 3. The outer members of the bearing pedestals 3 support small converging hoppers or grassholders 4, as shown, directly connected thereto by arms 5.

Feed lllcchanism.

In this machine, as in the machine disclosed in my Letters Patent of the United States No. 824-792, issued July 3rd, 1906, entitled Grass twine machines, I employ what for convenience is designated as primary feed devices or selectors, ant secondary feed devices, the former of which opcrate to feed the grass blades laterally downward from the holder, and the latter of which receive the grass blades from the primary feed devices and feed the same endwise in a regular order of succession to the twineforming mechanisi'n.

The primary feed devices herein illustrated are of the general character disclosed and broadly claimed in my prior patent, #745,625, issued of December 1st, 1902, entitled Machine for making grass twine. The secondary feed device of this application dil'lers very materially from that of my pending application above noted, and includes, as a novel feature, cooperating pairs of corrugated or fluted crimping rollers. These crimping rollers act upon the grass blades, to llatten same, to produce short kinks therein, and to break up the brittle outer fiber of the grass blades, and hence adapt the present machine for use to make the form of grass twine disclosed and claimed in my co-pending application S. N. 282,293, filed Oct. 11th, 1905, and entitled Grass twine.

Primary feed (Zcciccs.'ll1e numeral 6 indicates a group of three vertically disposed feed blades or bars having serrated inner edges and upwardly diverging or inclined surfaces 7, which latter form V shaped crotches, adapted to receive the ends ol the grass blades y and to deliver the same laterally between the opposing serrations 01 said blades. At one side, two ol" the feed blades 6 are located parallel to each other, but are spaced apart laterally, while the one cooperating blade on the other side is so located that it works in a plane passing between the The feed blades are guided for true vertical movements by the guide pedestals 3. The two blades at the one side are connected at the lower ends to a common head 8, and the one blade on the other side is connected to a similar head 9. The heads 8 and 9 are connected by links 10 to a crankshaft 11, the eccentrics 12 of which are set 180 degrees apart, so that the opposing blades on the op posite sides will be simultaneously moved in a reverse direction, thereby causing the serrations of the blades to produce a positive downward feed movement to the grass blades.

It will, of course, be understood that the feed blades and cooperating parts just described are duplicated in the two primary feed devices or selectors, and that each set of said blades is arranged to receive the butt ends of the grass blades held by one of the holders 4.

Secondary feed devices.As already indicated, the secondary feed devices of this machine includes pairs of crimping rollers, which perform an important function in addition to that of feeding the grass blades to the twineforming mechanism or twisters. Each secondary feed device, in the machine illustrated, involves a head pair of upright feed rollers 1314, the depending shafts of which are journaled in bearing bars 15, rigidly secured to the bed plate 2. The shafts of the said rollers 13 and 1 1, at their lower ends, are provided with intermeshing spur pinions 16, and the shaft of said roller 14 is also provided with a sprocket 17. At their upper ends, the rollers 13 and 14 are provided with cooperating surfaces that diverge with respect to each other and form a crotch that will receive the ends of the grass blades from the cooperating primary feed device, and direct them laterally between the two rollers. As shown, this feature ofconstruction is provided by making the outer roller 13 relatively long and by tapering or rounding off the upper end of the roller 14.

The crimping rollers 18 are arranged in pairs, and the pairs are arranged in rows that aline with the pair of rollers 13 and 141. These crimping rollers, as shown, are unconnected at their upper ends, and are supported only at their lower ends, their shafts 18 being extended downward through suitable bearings in the bearing bars 15 which, as already stated, are rigidly secured in the bed plate 2. The shafts 18 of the cooperating rollers, like the shafts of the rollers 1314, are geared together below the bed plate 2 by intermeshing spur gears 19, indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 7. One shaft of each pair of rollers 18 is provided with a sprocket 20 that is located in a horizontal plane with the sprockets 17 before described. A sprocket chain 21 runs over the sprockets 17 ,20, and over idle guide sprockets 22 and over a driving sprocket 23,

which latter is carried by a vertical shaft 24,

mounted in suitable bearings on the frame 1 and bed plate 2. The arrangement is such (see Fig. 7) that when the sprocket chain 21 is driven in the direction of the arrow marked thereon in Fig. 7, the rollers 13, 14 and 18 will be driven in a proper direction 'to draw the grass blades forward in a com handling than a grass blade having its brittle exterior surface left intact. Furthermore, the crimped form given to the grass blades imparts endwise elasticity thereto. In practice, I have found that the twine, cord or rope made of grass blades treated as above described, and as more particularly set forth and claimed in my companion application above referred to, has greater strength, and greater flexibility, than when made in the usual way.

T wine- F orming Mechanism.

The crimped grass blades, as they are fed rearward from the rearmost pairs of crimping rollers 18, are delivered into inclined rearwardly converging guide-spouts 25 that are rigidly supported on the frame 1. Each of these guide-spouts 25 delivers to one of a pair of primary twisters, and the two primary twisters deliver the strands which they twist, to a common secondary twister of approxi mately the same construction as the said primary twisters.

The primary twisters each involves a nonrotary guide sleeve 26, rigidly held by a bearing 27 on the supplemental frame 28, rigidly secured to the main frame 1. The non-rotary guide sleeves 26 are thus positioned in axial alinement one with each of the diverging spouts 25. At their rearwardly projecting ends, said sleeves 26 are formed with, or provided with, threads 29 that constitute non-rotary worms. Each primary twister also comprises a bifurcated gear-carrier or supporting frame 30 that is loosely journaled at its forward end on the nonrotary sleeve 26, and at its rear end, is provided with a hub 31 journaled in a bearing 27 on the supplemental frame 28. The hubs 31 are provided with tubular extensions 32 that are in axial alinement with the respective non-rotary sleeves 26. The rear ends of the tubes 32 are tapered and are brought very close together. In Fig. 8, the'strand of twine made up of the grass blades 3 is shown in the process of formation and as passing through one of the primary twisters. This strand, of course, passes through the alined tubes or sleeves 2632, and as it passes from the former to the latter, it is passed between a pair of drawing wheels 33 and 34, the former of which is grooved and the latter of which works within the groove of the former. The said drawing wheels are rigid on short shafts 35, that carry spur gears 36 and are journaled in bearings 37. The bearings 37 are adjust ably mounted in the sides of the rotary gearcarrier 30 and are yieldingly connected in pairs, by coiled springs 38, as best shown in Fig. 9. The gears 36 mesh with gears 39 that are secured on short shafts 40, loosely journaled in the sides of the gear-carrier 30, and provided with worm gears 41 that mesh with the worm 29 of the non-rotary sleeve 26.

As is evident, when the gear-carrier 30 is revolved, the drawing wheels and the gears just described will be caused to revolve round the strands of twine that are being twisted, and the non-rotary worm 29, acting on the worm gears 41 and through the intermediate gears described, will positively rotate the two drawing wheels 33-34 in the direction indicated by the arrows marked thereon in Fig. 8, thereby drawing the cord rearward, and at the same time, twisting the same as indicated in Fig. 8.

The secondary twister is of substantially the same construction as the primary twister, with the following exception, to-wit, first, that its non-rotary sleeve 26 is positioned to receive both of the twisted strands, as they come from the guide tubes 32 of the rimary twisters, second, that the draw wheel 34 thereof is provided with peripheral grooves 34 that receive the flanges of the wheel 33; and third, that its discharge tube 32 is cut short and affords a bearing for one end of a revolving Windlass frame presently to be described (see Fig. 3). In this secondary twister, the peripheral flanges of the wheel 33 working in the grooves 34 of the wheel 34, have a shearing action, and serve to cut off all of the projecting ends and other straggling portions of the grass blades which make up the twisted twine.

R eeling illechanism.

A large rectangular frame 42 is mounted to rotate on the rearwardly projecting end of the guide tube 32 before described, and on an alined stub shaft 43 that is rigidly secured in a bearing 44 on a rear transverse bar of the frame 1. On the end of the non-rotary studshaft 43 is a beveled pinion 45 that meshes with a beveled gear 46 of a transverse countershaft 47 that is journaled in the sides of the rotary frame 42, and is provided with a pulley 48. Loosely journaled in one side of the frame 42, and in a bearing yoke 49 secured on said side, is a pulley 50 that is alined with the pulley 48. A belt 51 runs over the two pulleys 48 and 50. The belt 51 is put under a predetermined tension by means of a yielding belt-tightener made up of the spring-pressed plunger 52 mounted in one side of the frame 42, and provided with a loose roller53 that directly engages said belt (see Figs. 4 and 6). Another pulley 54, which is located in axial alinement with the pulley 50 is mounted in the other side of the frame 42 and in a bearing yoke 55 secured to said side. The numeral 56 indicates a spindle which is insertible through the two pulleys 50 and 54. This spindle 56 is provided with a long key 57 that extends nearly from end to end thereof, and .near one end, it is provided with an annular groove 58 that is normally engaged by a spring latch 59 pivoted to the adjacent side of the frame 42, and itself adapted to be held in operative position by a button or thumb-screw 60 (see Figs. 3 and 4). A large spool or twine receiving drum 61 fits upon the intermediate portion of the spindle 56. The key 57 causes the pulleys 50 and 54 and the spool 61 to rotate together while they are being revolved by the frame 42.

The numeral 62 indicates a reversely threaded screw rod which extends parallel to the spindle 56 and in front of the same, is loosely j ournaled in the sides of the frame 42, and is provided with a pulley 63, over which and the pulley 54 runs a belt 64.

The completed twine, on its way from the guide sleeve 32 of the secondary twister to the receiving spool 61, passes through a traveling guide or deployer 65 that is mounted to automatically travel first in one direction and then in the other on the screw rod 62 in a manner well understood by persons familiar with devices of this character.

The vertical shaft 24 which carries the sprocket 23 is provided at its lower end with a miter gear 66 that meshes with a miter gear 67 of a transverse horizontal countershaft 68 journaled in the frame 1 and provided, at one end, with a large pulley 69. The counter shaft 68 also carries a beveled pinion 70 and a sprocket 71. A sprocket chain 72 runs over the sprocket 71 and over a sprocket 73 on the crank shaft 11 already described.

The beveled pinion 70 meshes with a beveled gear 74 on the front end of the countershaft 75 that extends longitudinally of the machine, and is mounted in suitable bearings located below the rimary and secondary twisters. On the siaft 75, below the forward portions of the primary twisters, is a large pulley 76, and in line therewith, somewhat below but transversely between the pulleylike hubs 30 of the said primary twisters, is an idle guide pulley 77. A belt 78 runs under the large ulley 7 6 under the idle guide pulley 77, and over the pulleylike hubs 30 of the two primary twisters. The belt 78 will therefore impart like rotary movements, in the same direction, to the two primary twisters. The hublike portion 30 of the secondary twister also affords a pulley, and likewise the hub-like portion 42 of the front head of the reeling frame 42 serves as a pulley.

On the shaft 75, below the pulley or hub 30 is a large pulley 79, and on said shaft 75, below the hub-like pulley 42 is a large pulley 80. A belt 81 .runs over the pulley 79 and over the hub-like pulley 30 and likewise a belt 82 runs over the pulley 80 and over the pulley-like hub 42. The connec tions have now been described whereby the two primary twisters, the secondary twister, and the frame of the reeling device, will all be rotated in the same direction. The rela tive sizes of the several driving pulleys are, however, such that the secondary twister will be rotated somewhat slower than the primary twisters, and the frame of the reeling device will be rotated somewhat slower than the secondary twister.

The cord formed by this machine will, as is evident, be made up of two independently twisted strands that are twisted together and are held together without the use of binding thread of any kind. The increased diameter of the completed twine over that of one of the strands, makes it desirable to rotate the secondary twister at a slower speed than the primary twisters, but the dimensions of the driving gears should be such that the drawing wheels of the primary and of the secondary twisters will be given the same or approximately the same number of rotations on their own axes per unit of time, so that the rollers of the said two classes of twisters will act in harmony, to produce the endwise feed movement of the strands and of the completed twine.

Twine wound under its maximum twist will tend to recoil and untwist when released. By running the frame of the reeling device at a slightly less s eed than that of the secondary twisters, al l the natural recoil is taken out of the twine as it is wound upon the spool, so that the twine when removed from the spool will be free from a tendency to un twist or to kink.

The machine above described, while comparatively simple and of correspondingly small cost, is capable of producing a high class twine at a very rapid rate of speed.

VV'hen one spool of the reeling device has been filled with twine, it may be quickly re moved from the revolving frame 42 simply by withdrawing the spindle 56 and allowing the spool to drop from working position. An empty spool may then be applied to the revolving frame of the said ree ing device and held. in operative position by the said spindle 56.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is as follows:

1. In a grass twine machine, the combination with grassfeeding mechanism including crimping rollers that are formed with longitudinally extended transversely rounded corrugations adapted to crimp and flatten the grass blades, of means for twisting the crimped grass blades into twine form, substantially as described.

2. I11 a grass twine machine, a pair of grass-feeding devices each comprising cooperating crimping rollers that are formed with longitudinally extended transversely rounded corrugations adapted to crimp and flatten the grass blades, of primary twisters receiving the crimped grass blades and twisting the same in two strands, and a secondary twister for twisting the two strands together, substantially as described. Y

3. A grass-feeding device comprising a pair of feed rollers having end surfaces that diverge from each other and adapt the grass blades to be delivered laterally between the two rollers, and pairs of crimping rollers that are formed with longitudinally extended transversely rounded corrugations adapted to crimp and flatten the grass blades ar ranged to receive the grass blades in succession and to flatten and crimp the same, substantially as described.

4. In a grass twine machine, the combination with a pair of grass-feeding devices, of a pair of rotary twisters receiving from the respective feed devices and having guide tubes that converge rearward, and a secondary twister having a guide tube arranged to receive the twisted strands directly from the ends of the converging guide tubes of said primary twisters, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS W. J ERREMS.

Witnesses:

IVIALIE HOEL, F. D. MERCHANT. 

